The audio clip will have to wait a little bit. My basement looks like an H-bomb went off in there. I had to move a ton of stuff around to both work on, and then to display the kit. I've got a couple days work down there easy just setting up Big Blue for playing, (my space is very limited,) and then clean-up from the resto and re-organizing about 8 full drum kits that I had to move around to take photos. It's a mess, trust me. As soon as I can get everything organized, I'll shoot a video/sound file of the kit for you guys. :D

Thank you ALL for the compliments and very kind words. I do love you monkeys and it was a blast doing the project with all of you looking over my shoulder. I thoroughly enjoyed your company, tips and comments all along the way.

John

It is just awesome John . And another thing that is cool about this thread is that it seems like we were there with you as you were doing the resto . Thanks for inviting us .

Donnie - Thanks for being there! I'm convinced that it was all the photos that made it fun to follow along. I know that I really enjoy it when there are lots of photos in restoration threads. If I went out of my way to do anything, it was to make sure the work was well documented. Thanks for hanging out so long to see how it all came out. :D

John

PS - I forgot to thank two very key people for their invaluable assistance; Dale & Neil from the Berks Technical College. Without their expert welding and metal repair help, I would not have been able to complete this drum kit. So... THANK YOU Dale & Neil!

John, the pictures that you took are really good. This was a fascinating thread to follow and you not only did a fantastic job on the restoration of the drums, you did a very good job of photographing the project from day one and giving us detailed descriptions of the condition of each drum as well as the restoration process. Yes you did an outstanding job on the drums but you also did a ton of extra work so that we could follow along with specific details. Thank you for the time you took to share the experience! ENJOY!

Thanks, Jeff. The reasons why you enjoyed my thread are the same ones I have about yours; you always include lots of shots of the work in progress and you always provide a good blow-by-blow of the restoration work. I'm starting to think it's a winning formula for good restoration threads. Lots of pix and a good description of what is being done. The drum-junkies get a good fix and the guys who restore drums themselves pick up valuable tips along the way. You learn from me, I learn from you, etc. and it's all one big happy circle-jerk of learning! LOL :p

> you also did a ton of extra work so that we could follow along

The acknowledgement for that that I have received from my peers is reward enough for the work involved. I'm trying to pass on some of the bits I've picked up along the way to the younger guys coming up. If I don't share it, it ends up going to the grave with me. That would be a waste and a drag.

Thanks for the very kind remarks.

John

Your welcome John.

A little update... my buddy, Creighton is making up two rubber ink-stamps with W&A logos for the bass drum head and for the snare and tom heads! (Jeremy, the current owner of W&A approved and supplied the art.)

When the logos are on the drums, I'll add a couple of shots of the newly stamped heads with the W&A company logos on them. A finishing touch of "Perfection." :D

John

This is some herculean stuff right here. What a beautiful kit, and what a labor!

Can't wait to hear the sound clip.

Gilnar - I've been meaning to ask you... I ran "Sysl krysu nenahradi" through the translator and it comes out:

"Gophers Rat Substitute!"

That -can't- be right! LOL Please, translate for us what "Sysl krysu nenahradi" means.

John

Ha, ok! It means "Gopher can not substitute a rat!" It's sort of a silly motto (obviously), coming from one game we played with my sister, when I was a kid. For some reason, I started using it as my online signature.